Discovery: Les Higgins Subscription Figures

In an earlier post I mentioned the earlier Les Higgins ECW figures which were available on subscription. From Richard via John C of 20mm Nostalgic Reveival I have received this image of a letter from Les Higgins which accompanied the fulfiilment of an order for these figures. It may not be a complete list (the order may not have included examples of all the figures available) but it is the first time I have seen anything approaching a list for these figures, so I thought it would be useful to post it here and also on Vintage Wargaming.

In case the photo is hard to decipher (it is not a scan) here is the list:

English Civil War

Royalist

King Charles I with cloak
Royalist fencing (with cloak)
Royalist fencing
Cavalier standing
Cavalier for horse

Parliamentarian

Oliver Cromwell
Walking Roundhead
Roundhead fencing in low position
Roundhead fencing standing

Universal figures

Running musketeer
Musketeer shooting
Officer doffing hat
Pikeman standing
Pikeman receiving
Pikeman at push
Musketeer, gun on shoulder
Running figure
Trooper for horse

Other Periods

Guthram 878 AD with cloak
Grenadier 1742
Queens Cameron Highlander


Guthrum was a Dane who first defeated and then surrendered to King Alferd at the Battle of Chippenham in 878 AD. This figure is almost certainly the one posted last week by Harry P here on his Parum Pugna blog.

Napoleonic Units: Les Higgins French Foot Dragoons

My remaining odds and ends of Les Higgins French foot dragoons, painted in Spanish campaign dress, as inspired by a couple of Knotel plates. Interestingly the prodding forward pose is on a significantly less heroic scale than the other figures.

Napoleonic Units: Les Higgins British Light Dragoons

Les Higgins Napoleonics

Some stills of the Les Higgins units involved in the battle and slideshow from the previous post.

The Battle of the Bernebeu

As part of a weekend in North Berwick play testing Tony's Napoleonic hex based and computer managed rules, we staged a Peninsularwar battle betweena joint Portuguese and Spanish force attacking an Italian/Spanish force. This gave my Hinton Hunt Iberians a run out, with Tony's troops including figures by Les Higgins, Minifigs S Range, Hinton Hunt (Brunswick Hussars), Kennington, NapoleoN, and Warrior, among others.



Generals play an important role in command and control and are so well represented.



The Italians and Spanish occupied a line of ridges and positions. The italians were their best troops; the Portuguese were their only equals on the other side, and did not arrive for several moves. On the Italian/Spanish right a village formed the strongest part of the line, occuped by elements of Saint-Paul's Italian Brigade, with the remainder of the brigade occupying the hills behind. The central ridge was occupied by cavary (Dragoni Napoleone) and atillery; and on their left Monastery Ridge was occupied by Casapalacios' Spanish Brigade.



Blake, commanding the Portuguese-Spanish army, had two Spanish Brigades (Espana's and Morillo's), Spanish and Portuguese batteries, and the 14th Light Dragoons. Marching to join him were two columns from Collins' Portuguese Brigade of the 7th Division, each of two line and one Cacadore battalion. Additionally the Brunswick Hussars were on their way. The rules allow for te use of blinds so their time and direction of arrival were a little uncertain; Blake proved loath to advance until his best troops had arrived.



I am adding a slideshow of the battle; if you want you can try to spot the manufacturesr involved in the various units.



If you want a slightly less frenetic view, and some explanatory notes, you can ascess the photobucket album here

John Cross review of Les Higgins 20mm and Jason 30mm figures, Scale Models Magazine September 1970

I love Les Higgins 20mm figures (now happily available again from John Cunningham), but I also have an extremely soft spot for his Jason range of 30mm English Civil War. Unfortunately I had to sell the few figures I had as I knew I could not do them justice (now painted rather beautifully and adorning another blog). Here is John Cross's review of Les Higgins products in 20mm, and 30mm from Scale Models magazine in September 1970. This predates the 25mm Napoleonic range which was first issued in 1971 and along with the Brian Marlow designed Sudan range.

Les Higgins 25mm British Napoleonic Range - Cavalry BN25 Light Dragoon Trooper mounted